


Love, Deception and Drag Queens

by trissucc



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akechi is a shujin kid, Alternate Universe - No Metaverse, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Crossdressing, Dialogue Heavy, Forced Crossdressing, Futaba watched too much rupauls drag race, M/M, akechi is a lolita, akechi is awkward af, akira is one hell of a dick, all the girls are perverts, am i becoming too apologetic I DO NOT KNOW JUST STOP ME FOR GODS SAKE, but ann helps him out cuz shes a GOOD FREN, but he is also supportive af, i cannot do descriptions im sorry, let akechi go in drag 2018, phantom thieves are a school club, phantom thieves are ordinary highschool kids, ryuji is basically a trainwreck of a person, sorry for the weird text format but im polish so this is how ive been writing all my life, that ann and ryuji thing is mostly platonic but yeahhh, they are all shujin kids, this is my first ff in english GOD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-04-28 07:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14444061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trissucc/pseuds/trissucc
Summary: While the rest of The Phantom Thieves are easy to bribe, Akechi seems reluctant when proposed with an idea as ridiculous as dressing up as a pretty girl for the cultural festival at Shujin Academy.That is, until Akira convinces him to.





	1. "I Refuse!"

**Author's Note:**

> MY FIRST AO3 FF!!!!!!!  
> This fic is obviously based off those amazing AF crossdressing outfits from Dancing Star Night, and I wanted Akechi to have a part in this too, so yeah  
> This is basically the whole premise, a FF written specifically only for shits and giggles  
> Persona boys being cute and wearing heels and shit  
> I changed some things, for example the date of the school festival at Shujin for plot reasons  
> Sorry for crap English, I'm not native and stuff  
> The rating is Teen and Up because of the use of swearwords and stuff like that, might change it later

“Oh! I know! Let’s organise a drag competition!”

When Futaba proposed that, everyone just stared at her silently for a minute.

“A… drag… competition…?” Yusuke was the first one to question that idea. The combination of the words “drag” and “competition” intrigued him. It sounded interesting, artsy, and exciting.

“You know, like that ones from that American TV show that I’ve been watching recently. Where guys dress up as pretty girls! It’ll be a kind of a beauty pageant! But everyone will remain anonymous, still. We'll pretend like they are guests or something.”

“WHAT THE EFF, FUTABA?!” Ryuji screamed, disgusted with the idea. “We’re supposed to be raisin’ money for sick kids, y’know? How are we gonna to do that by dressin’ up as chicks?!”

The Phantom Thieves, or officially speaking, The Charity Club were desperate. The school festival was fast approaching, and they still didn’t have any ideas for what are they going to even present. It’d be a shame if they just stood there with a jar, with a “raising money for kids” sticker slapped on.  
Last year they’ve come up with a rather clever idea to dress up and do a short play - a bit silly skit about changing twisted people’s hearts, with carefully crafted costumes and quite a big audience. So this year they had to come up with something at least interesting, that would not disappoint everyone, who watched the last year’s show.

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” said Makoto, smiling while biting the eraser on the end of her pencil. 

“I think so, too!” agreed Ann, cheerfully chirping, because of the fact that they finally had something to consider doing. “I don’t think that anyone has ever come up with something like that, so we would be original and stuff!”

“I agree as well.” Haru was as happy as the blonde. “An event like this would be a great addition to the festival.”

“Y’all are girls, so you have nothing to complain ‘bout. C’mon, guys, we’re not going to do this, right?”

“I actually would enjoy partaking in this” said Yusuke, passionately. “Dressing up is a form of art too, correct? I’ve never tried something like that before, so that’ll be a new experience for me. I’m actually curious about the possibilities that it may provide, since…”

“Okay, I shouldn’t have asked you, of all people about that” sighed Ryuji, and then looked at Akira, who was still invariably sitting in his chair, while playing with his hair. It seemed like he wasn’t listening at all. “Yo. How ‘bout you, Akira?”

“Huh? I… I think that there’s nothing wrong with it.” he murmured, and then smiled softly.

“WHAT THE HECK?! EVEN YOU?!”

“What is all this ruckus about?” All of the Thieves looked at the door, or more precisely at the person who opened them. It was no other than the famed Detective Prince, or simply speaking Goro Akechi. “I apologise for being late. Did I miss something?”

“Actually… yes” said Makoto with a mischievous smile. “We’ve finally come up with something to do for the festival.”

“Oh, that is great!” cheered the brunet, while taking a seat next to Akira.

Everyone stared at him for a second.

“Is… there anything on my face?” asked Akechi nervously.

“Akechi-kun? We have a question for you.” started Futaba, while grinning perversely. “Do you like… wearing girls’ dresses?”

“I beg your pardon?” Goro was shocked with the question. “W-what’s the context of this…?”

“Dude, they tryna’ get you to dress up as a chick for the school festival!” 

“W-what?!” Akechi suddenly fell out of character. It was rather rare for him to react fiercely like that. “No, no, no, no, no! I refuse!”

“Look, now there’s two of us! You can’t make us do that now!” Ryuji was about to triumph. “Just make Akira and Yusuke do the thing, if they’re so excited ‘bout it!”

“But what is the purpose of a competition, if there are only two people competing…?” asked Haru, with a worried face.

“Oh! I know.” Makoto suddenly spoke. “Let’s just organise a prize for the winner.”

“A prize?” all the boys asked almost at the same time.

“I think that’s a good idea. We’ve got the budget for that, right, Haru?” asked Ann.

“That is correct,” Okumura smiled humbly.

“What kinda prize?” Ryuji was the first to ask any questions, as always.

“Well… I think that we should be able to fit the prize to the winner.” said the fluffy haired girl. “For example if Yusuke wins, and he wishes for a box of Jagariko, then he’ll get it.”

“Hey! Don’t assume that I would wish for that!” 

“Sorry, Yusuke-kun,” laughed Haru.

“Although a box of large-sized salad flavour Jagariko sounds heavenly.”

“So… if I wished for that new fighting game that I wanted, I would get it…?” 

“Certainly,” the girl smiled again.

“Well! Guess I’ll take part, too, then!” 

Akechi was actually shocked, that Sakamoto was so easy to bribe. 

“And what about you, Akechi-kun?” asked Ann.

“Well, I’m… not sure if that is my cup of tea…” he laughed anxiously. “Shouldn’t we all compete? I mean, we’re all part of the Charity Club, so I think the girls should partake, too…”

“Akechi.” Futaba sighed “Do you even know the definition of the word “drag queen”?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Then you should know, that drag queens are usually male, y’know. At least in the “traditional” form.”

“Since when are you an expert on this matter, Futaba?” asked Yusuke.

“Shut up, Inari!”

“I was just asking a polite question!”

Akechi sighed loudly. It was a difficult decision for him. Sure, he could just decline, because of his fragile masculinity, but on the other hand he felt like it would be rude to just say no. They were raising money for ill children after all, and he would feel unsatisfied if he just stood there, with the awareness, that he did virtually nothing.

“I… I will think about it. But do not take anything for granted.”

***

They sat around for a while more, and then the bell rang, so Makoto announced the end of their meeting.

Akechi sighed as he was packing up his things. He was still torn between dressing up against himself, with a faint hope to win a prize of some sorts and staying true to himself and disappointing the rest of the club.

“Hey, Goro.” he turned around to see Akira standing next to him. “Do you want to hang out somewhere?”

“Now?” asked Akechi, surprised by Kurusu’s sudden offer. “Well… I guess that I’m not that busy today, so…”

“That’s fantastic!” the frizzy haired boy smiled resplendently. The brunet has always thought, that Akira’s smile was an another kind of pretty, but that was just… gorgeous. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. “Where’d you want to go?”

“I don’t know… I will let you pick somewhere to go.”

“Ok. It’ll be a surprise, then, I suppose,” Akira winked and laughed afterwards.

“H-huh?” Akechi tried to find out what the heck was he planning, but the curly haired boy was faster than him.

“You’ll see,” he smiled again.

***

“You think that you will buy me that easily?” sighed Akechi, as they arrived at Harajuku, and more specifically to the new pancake shop that has opened there recently.

“I just thought, that since you like pancakes so much, it would be nice to take you here,” laughed Akira. “No need to be salty about it.”

“Right. I’m sorry,” Goro suddenly felt bad for his behaviour. He was overanalysing everything, as always. But he still didn’t quite trust Kurusu - something felt fishy. He was expecting Akira to try to convince him into the Charity Club’s plan.

They took a seat inside and a waitress in a pink apron approached them.

“Welcome!” she smiled and handed them the menu.

“My god, how many kinds of pancakes do they even have…?” the frizzy haired boy seemed overwhelmed by the selection of dishes. Pancakes with almost all available flavours of jam, crêpes, waffles, doughnuts… The menu was almost endless. “

“Well, I’m not going to be picky.” said Goro while smiling. “I believe in simplicity, so I think that maple syrup and raspberries on my pancakes will be fine by me.”

“Okay. I think I will get crepes with chocolate spread,”  
When they ordered, Akechi began to talk again.

“So. You must’ve brought me here for some reason, correct?”

“Why are you still so serious about it?” laughed the dark haired boy. “If you don’t want to, then fine, you don’t need to. No pressure.” 

Goro hated to admit, but he was right.

“But… the thing is that…”

“Here’s your raspberry and maple syrup pancake and chocolate spread crepe!”

“Thank you…” sighed Akechi.

“...what was that you wanted to say?” asked Kurusu, as the brunet began eating.

“Nothing” that was nothing but a blatant lie, and Akira was well aware of that.

“Goro…” he got goosebumps when his friend said that. He was still not used to him calling him by his first name, and not by his surname. “I see, that something is bugging you. I won’t get mad, I won’t laugh - here, just say it.”

“Look, Rei-chan!” they heard a girl’s loud whisper from a table nearby. “Isn’t that Akechi-kun? Who’s he sitting with? They’re both from the same school, aren’t they?”

“Shut up, stupid, they’ll hear us!”

“Right. I forgot, that you’re famous,” Kurusu giggled.

Akechi rolled his eyes.

“Right. The thing is…” he spoke very quietly, as if not to let those girls eavesdrop on them. “I… want to help out. And… I want to try it. But… I’m just not sure of it, it’d feel embarrassing if I did it in public…”

“I get how you feel. You know what?” asked Akira, smiling. “Let’s do a test run. I’ve got a friend who may help us out.”

“A test run?” the chestnut haired boy was confused.

“Yeah. We go to shops, you pick whatever fits your tastes, we go back and you try everything on. The clothes, make up, hair, shoes, everything. I'll give her a call and..."

“What are they talking about?! Dresses, shoes, what?!” whispered that obnoxious girl from before.

“More quiet, idiot!”


	2. Our Newborn Ladyboy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira (who is a piece of shit) buys Akechi (who is a hot headed mess atm) things, but he doesn't really like that.  
> (and I include a pointless side character who doesn't really do anything besides laughing at Akechi).

When Akechi found out that they were going to Shinjuku, he started to panic. Why would Akira want to go to the red light district? It seemed suspicious.

And when they stood outside that sketchy-looking place, that feeling of uneasiness just strengthened.

“What is this place…?” asked Goro.

“Welcome to Crossroads,” Akira winked at him and opened the door. 

Goro shyly stepped inside too.

The first thing that he has noticed was the overwhelming smell of cigarettes and booze. It was a tiny bar, furnished with old and dirty-looking corner couches, with a flashy neon hanging on the wall above the bar. The Ace Detective didn’t feel comfortable with this place at all. Why would Kurusu just casually walk into an establishment such as that, while being a minor?

“Lala-chan! We’re here!”

“Oh, I’m coming!”

The boys saw a rather large-looking woman in a black kimono with lots of makeup on, flashy manicure and cheap-looking jewellery.

“So he’s the one who’s shy, huh?” she approached Akechi and glazed at him. He started to feel uncomfortable.

“Yeah, it’s his first time, and he doesn’t really have a clue about any of this,” answered Akira.

“What’s your name, kid? You look kind of familiar…”

“M-my name’s Goro Akechi…” he answered faintly.

“Oh, so you’re that detective kid from the TV! A pleasure to meet you, Akechi-kun.” she giggled. “My name is Lala Escargot. I’m this bar’s owner and Akira-kun’s… tutor.”

“She’s been a great help, you know. With prepping the outfits, and stuff…”

“Wait.” Akechi flinched. “Does that mean that… you’ve done it before?!”

“Well. Yeah.” said Kurusu nonchalantly. “What’s wrong about it? I treat it like a hobby of sorts. It’s pretty fun.”

The chestnut haired boy sighed. His perception of Akira suddenly changed. He didn’t seem like the type of person to do that. He was rather quiet at school, sure, sometimes he was a little pretentious, but the Detective Prince would never suspect him of going in drag.

“And he’s very good at it.” Lala laughed and lit a cigarette. “Tell me, whaddya have in mind, huh? How would you like to look?”

“Well, I know virtually nothing about that kind of stuff, so…”

“Mhm…” murmured Lala and approached him dangerously close. Goro felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Well, you’ve got quite the body, you’re not that tall, you have narrow shoulders, so even a regular girls’ fit should do the trick… you could even pull off something revealing if you want to… But your face is too innocent for sexy outfits like Akira’s…” Akechi looked at the mentioned boy, who was currently staring at the ceiling. He definitely didn’t look like someone who was wearing “sexy outfits”. “If I were you, I would go for something cute and youthful.”

“I agree. A total opposite to Kira-chan, huh?” he laughed.

“Kira-chan…?”

“Oh, that’s his pseudonym when he’s performing.” Lala replied, as amused as Kurusu. “...she’s quite brave when it comes to looks. By the way your hair is cute! It’s long, so you don’t even need to wear extensions! Can you pull it up in ponytails…? Oh, I know. Let’s make you a lolita!”

“A lolita?!” Akechi gasped. He was aware of what that meant - soft pink dresses, white ribbons, curly hair, stockings, teddy bears...

“That’s a great idea!” agreed Akira.

“B-but…” the boy stuttered, not as sure of that idea as Kurusu. He wasn’t so certain if the lolita theme was his thing…

“C’mon, it’ll be fun.” laughed the black haired boy and grabbed Goro’s hand. “We will pick something for you in that store that I used to go to…”

… but Akira’s smile was all that took to convince him.

***

They decided that they would go to the shops the following day, because Akira admitted, that for him “it’s better, when you see everything in daylight”.

Akechi stood anxiously on the Shibuya station square, waiting for the frizzy haired boy to finally show up. It wasn’t that pleasant to wait there. The crowd and a June day’s heat were not helping. At all.

He felt like his entire body was melting. The humidity was awfully high, the temperature was also abnormally warm for June.

_I swear, I will fucking leave, if he does not show up in ten minutes_ he thought, annoyed to his limits. Akira was late and he didn’t even text him to let Goro know, why was that. 

But luckily for himself, he arrived not long after. He ran, like his life depended on it. Well, it was not far from the truth.

“Sorry I’m late.” he gasped. “I had to run an errand for Boss. It took some time.”

“I was getting worried,” answered the chestnut haired boy, quietly murmuring.

“Hey, are you mad?” laughed Kurusu.

“No… just stressed,” he didn’t tell the truth, but the part about stress was not a lie.

“Yeah, understandable.” said Akira. “I was stressed too when I did it for the first time. It’s your great day…” he suddenly stopped.

“Is there something wrong?”

“I was just wondering… since we’ll remain anonymous at the festival, you should come up with a pseudonym for yourself. I already have one, but you…”

“Huh.” Akechi was clueless when Akira asked him about it. His name wasn’t so easy to convert to a girly-sounding one like Akira’s. “Honestly, I have no idea.”

“Chill, you have some time to think about it. Right now we have to go try the clothes,”

“Where are we going, exactly?”

“Harajuku! Isn’t that obvious? The ultimate home of the lolita fashion!” Kurusu said that almost solemnly. 

And Goro certainly wasn’t as enthusiastic as he was.

“But… wouldn’t it be weird, if two guys just entered a store like that…?” 

“Oh, don’t worry! I know the owner, actually half of her customers are biologically male.” he laughed. “We won’t be judged or anything.”

But the detective was still unsure of that idea. After all, he was never the person to like standing out, to do something, that was not generally socially acceptable. But at the same time he felt more and more comfortable with that concept - maybe it wouldn’t be that bad after all?

***

“Welcome to Versailles!” the blonde shopkeeper in a rather simple blue lolita dress (at least compared to some ones that were displayed there) greeted them with a soft smile. “What are you looking for?”

The shop was a very interesting place. Outside it didn’t look impressive at all. It was located on the first floor of an ordinary white city building, with a pink banner saying “New and used affordable European Victorian Fashion” and a miswritten “Versailles” written in katakana. But inside it looked like the set of a live-action princess movie. Damask wallpapers, Victorian-esque furniture, replicas of classic masterpieces on the walls, hangers filled with frilly dresses and finally all of these plushies. Teddy bears and dolls seemed to occupy all the unused space.

“Hi, Emma.” said Akira, smiling. “I’m looking for something for this gentleman. Or should I say, newborn ladyboy.”

Akechi looked him in the eyes with a murderous glare.

“Oh, I think I’ll find a fit for him. And what is the style you’re looking for?” she looked at Akechi. “Personally I think that the classic lolita should suit you. Guys with faces like yours almost pick those ones.”

“She’s an expert,” laughed the frizzy haired boy.

“Are you a…” Goro was about to ask, if the girl behind the counter was a crossdresser too.

“If you’re asking about that, then, well, no, I’m not.” Emma giggled. “Just a lot of my clients are crossdressers, and I have nothing against them.”

“Oh,” the chestnut haired boy suddenly felt awfully awkward. 

“Anyway, I think that I found something suiting for you.” Akira smiled and showed them a light beige knee-length dress with frilled sleeves, a lacy collar and wide skirt. He was also holding a pair of cute, brown lace-up, high heel booties.

“Oh, you have great taste!” Emma complimented him. “What do you think?” she looked at Goro.

“Well… I can try it on…” he sighed and stepped inside the dressing room, while Akira handed him the clothes.

He slid the curtain and looked at the dress with pure disbelief. His situation still seemed surreal to him.

But it was too late to quit. Goro undressed himself and began to try to put the dress on. He had some idea of how to put on a dress, but he never did that by himself, so his knowledge on that matter was rather limited. Surprisingly for him, he didn’t have any serious difficulties.

“You need help in there?” asked Akira, half jokingly. “I can get in there and…”

“No, you pervert!” Akechi hissed at him.

Finally after a few minutes he was done. Everything fitted scaringly perfect - even the shoes were his size. Akechi didn’t want to know, how did Akira even guess his shoe size. He was hesitant at first - he felt embarrassed just from looking at the mirror. But at the same time… He felt something that was a contrary to his embarrassment. He couldn’t really explain it.

“Have you finished?” asked Kurusu. “You haven’t got stuck, haven’t you?”

“I’m coming…”

When he got out, he almost fell over. He didn’t have any idea, that walking on heels would be that complicated.

“Yea, I have to teach him how to walk in these,” Akira murmured with a smirk on his face, while Emma was apparently dying of laughter. 

“H-how do I look?” said Goro, trying as hard as he could not to fall or scream at that damn shopkeeper.

“Well…” began Akira. “First of all - i didn’t know that you have such nice legs…”

“Just s-stop, please…” the boy blushed a little bit. Or more than a little bit, since he felt humiliated. But he had to admit - that compliment also “worked” on him in a different kind of way. He was not necessarily offended by that.

“Okay. But… I don’t think that light colours suit you very well…” 

“I think so, too.” Emma agreed, looking obtrusively at Akechi. “I mean, he has a cute face and stuff…”

“I have an idea!” Kurusu’s gasp almost made him jump. “Let’s try the gothic look. Black looks good on everyone after all, right?”

“That’s not that bad of a plan.” admitted the blonde. “You know what? I have that new dress in the back… I haven’t really even put it on sale yet… Wait a moment, I’ll bring it here.”

When she disappeared in the back room, Akira looked at him again.

“You okay?” he seemed worried, looking at a dazed Akechi, who sat on a nearby couch, with his legs spread and a shocked expression.

“Yes, I am just… confused with all of this.” he laughed grimly, while playing with the flounces on his skirt. “I mean… it feels a little bit embarrassing. And… dresses feel weird, you know?”

“Don’t worry, I felt like this when I was starting, too,” Kurusu laughed radiantly. 

“I know it’s a weird question to ask, but… how did you even start crossdressing?” the answer to that question was something, that Goro was especially curious of, because the concept of an usually quiet high schooler being a drag queen was almost surreal to himl.

“Well, I began having interest in crossdressing when I was at middle school, on Hokkaido. All the girls were jealous of my appearance, especially my lashes, and told me, that if I wore a skirt, I would look exactly like a girl. So I thought to myself, _“hey, why not?”_ and I borrowed my friend’s school uniform. I liked that so much, that I continued dressing up. One evening my parents came home a little earlier, than expected and…”

“You’re joking, right?” he responded with a muffled laughter.

“No. I’m serious, that is what happened.” Akira giggled too. “Mum wasn’t really pleased with the fact, that from all her lipsticks I chose the red Chanel one.”

“And how did you get to know Lala?” Goro was so absorbed in the conversation already, that he almost forgot about the fact, that he was looking grotesquely ridiculous in that girly, frilly dress.

“Well, I met her at an event that she was hosting at Crossroads. It was a karaoke night for all the ladyboys.” he laughed. “She didn’t want to let me in, since I looked “like a highschool dipshit”, but…”

“I’m back!” they heard Emma’s voice, who apparently found the dress. 

“Oh, and don’t sit like that when you’re wearing a dress,” Akira managed to quickly point the brunet’s inappropriate leg spread before the shopkeeper arrived.

Before their eyes appeared a lacy, black dress with puffed sleeves. It was visibly shorter than the previous one - at least ten centimetres shorter. And - to Akechi’s horror - it was made of a thin, see-through fabric. Emma also had in her other hand what looked like a pair of long, lacy fingerless gloves, a headdress decorated with some artificial red flowers, and a pair of black, high heeled shoes with very long ribbons at the top - they seemed like they were supposed to girdle the calves of the person who would be wearing them.

“Wow… You need to try this on.” Akira was delighted with the dress. Goro on the other hand…  
He couldn’t say that it was totally not his type - he thought, that the dress was amazing too, but the thought of this skirt exposing his bare legs, the gloves on his hands, the ribbons on the shoes girdled around those god forsaken legs of his…

“Okay, I guess,” he sighed and began to undress in the dressing room again.

When he changed and got out, Akira found it hard to resist gasping. A realisation came to him - he might have had a crush on Goro fucking Akechi, and he has realised that in circumstances as ridiculous as those.

“What’s wrong?” asked the chestnut haired beauty, while anxiously putting a strand of hair behind his ear. 

“We’ll take this one,” said Kurusu confidently. “How much is it?”

“Oh. You’re fast.” Emma laughed, but then suddenly her expression changed to a less amused one. “Well… We haven’t really set up the price yet, but… I think the dress and accessories will be thirty thousand yen, plus the shoes, which would be… I don’t know, ten thousand? It’s all unused stuff after all, so…”

“H-how much…?” Akechi gasped. He never thought that he would pay that much for a single piece of clothing.

“I can give you a little discount, so everything will cost you somewhere around thirty five thousand for all, so…”

“Okay. I’ll pay for everything,” said Akira and opened his bag in search of his wallet, while walking up to the counter.

“Kurusu, you don’t need to, I’ll pay for it too!” Goro protested, while following him. He almost tripped over three times, again, because of the heels.

“But what if I want to?” he smiled mischievously. “And you can call me by my name, Goro-kun.”

_Who does he think he is, my sugar daddy?! And as if saying my name wasn’t enough, he added a fucking suffix to it_ , thought Akechi, absolutely enraged, ready to scream at him.

Well, one thing stopped him from that.

Just as they were about to begin arguing, a young-looking girl has entered the shop and looked at Akechi, shocked with what she just saw. He got the agonising feeling, that she might’ve recognised his face.

He did, what he thought he would never have to do. 

He ran. Ran in embarrassment, with his face all red.

Well, he ran until he tripped on the way to the dressing room and finally fell over because of those damn shoes. If the humiliation from wearing that damn dress was not enough.

Well, now at least he had quite a story to tell - “How Did I Make a Fool of Myself While Wearing a Fucking Lolita Dress in Public”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter is even more of a gramatic mess than the previous one.  
> Beta read by me (so it didn't do ANY good, trust me XDD)


	3. A (Boy)Friend in Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira helps Akechi when he is in need of aid.  
> Because that's what true friends do, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haru is a GOOD FREN™  
> Akechi is more tsundere than ever before  
> This chapter is a little bit sick-fic-esque, but I promise, it's the last time, when this FF is so much of a clichefest XDD  
> obligatory new order reference at the beggining cause i can  
> sorry for the delay but i'm lazy af  
> i wrote this chapter only because it's now 3rd of May Constitution Day in Poland so I don't have to go to school and i haven't got anything to do XD

>   
>  I feel fine and I feel good  
>  I'm feeling like I never should  
>  Whenever I get this way  
>  I just don't know what to say  
>  Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday?  
> 

Finally they agreed on splitting the receipt - but Akira still paid the majority of it, with Goro paying only about seven thousand yen. He felt bad for Kurusu, since he probably spent all of his savings on that damned dress - but Akira himself didn’t care about it at all.  
They decided to move the big “try-on” to a Saturday, since the boys would finish school a little bit earlier than on other weekdays.

Now Akechi was lying in bed and couldn’t even sleep. He was restless, still thinking about what happened during the day, staring at the newly purchased dress, put on a coat hanger on the door of his closet. He sighed. Akechi still could not believe what he’s got into. The room was quiet - the only sounds were the boy’s breathing and the crickets outside.

It was two o’clock and Goro was near to frustration.

He could not fall asleep, and he had school the next day. Sure, he could call in sick - but he felt like that would be a waste - he already had some absences due to all these interviews that he’s given.

Suddenly, as he was trying to sleep by counting sheep, his phone buzzed. Goro decided to check it. He moaned quietly and stretched to reach his bedside table. To his surprise, it wasn’t a notification from an app, or anything. It was a message. From Futaba.

She sent him a fucking cat video. At 2AM.

**Alibaba** : doesn't it, like, totally look like Akira’s cat?! it’s so ADORABLE!!!! (✧ω✧)

**karasu** : Why are you messaging me at 2AM?

**Alibaba** : and why are YOU awake, mr detective? you are the one who said, that there’s “nothing better than a good night’s sleep” ( ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ)

The chestnut haired boy rolled his eyes. Oh, Futaba.

**karasu** : Your excessive use of emoticons is worrisome. I simply do not feel very well, that’s all. It is frustrating, to be frank.

**Alibaba** : ohhhhhhh, poor Akechi-kun~ ( ╥ω╥ ) and i’m up all night because i’m binge watching the new phoenix featherman

**Alibaba** : and LISTEN

**karasu** : What to?

**Alibaba** : WHAT HAPPENED IN EPISODE 7 IS BEYOND ME, LIKE, THEY MUST BE BRAIN DEAD TO THINK, THAT A PLOT TWIST LIKE THAT WILL BE GOOD!

**karasu** : I don’t really know much about that TV show, but I sympathise with you regardless. 

**Alibaba** : dude (.__.)

**Alibaba** : it’s enough that you talk like that irl

**karasu** : What does “irl” mean? I apologise for my style of utterance, but that is simply how I speak every day.

**Alibaba** : O M G. IRL = “in real life”. Anyway… how did the shopping go?(✯◡✯) 

**karasu** : We have purchased a dress and shoes.

**Alibaba** : show me plz ♡

**karasu** : I am in bed right now.

**Alibaba** : OHWAIT. don’t send any pictures, i want a surprise! im looking forward to it!

**karasu** : That is a peculiar thing to be looking forward to.

**Alibaba** : you know what? 

**karasu** : What.

**Alibaba** : you mad or something? XD

Indeed, Goro was feeling annoyed.

**Alibaba** : you’re similar to Inari. he doesn’t get internet slang either. plus the way that you speak!!! haven’t you thought about making good friends with him? XD

**karasu** : I think that Akira’s company is enough for me.

**Alibaba** : !!!! 

**Alibaba** : FRIEND POINTS!!! you just called him by name!!!

**Alibaba** : or… are they...?

**Alibaba** : BOYFRIEND POINTS!!!

_You have blocked the user **Alibaba**_ , said the text on Akechi’s phone.

Paradoxically, it didn’t help him to fall asleep at all.

***

Akechi was ready to make the statement, that his presence at school was a miracle. He felt horrible, his head hurt, and he was tired as never before. He slept only about three hours, and almost overslept - and it was visible. He didn’t have the time to look for his uniform blazer, so he just left it at home, his hair looked like a mess, and instead of brushing it he just put it in a tiny ponytail. He didn’t bother to make himself any lunch whatsoever, so he just brought a few hundred yen with him to buy something at school, and for breakfast, he ate a nutritious indeed onigiri bought at the metro station.

That said, he started to feel sick right in the middle of his Math class. 

“Akechi-kun?” asked Haru, who was sitting next to him, quietly whispering. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Not really, to be completely honest. But… I will manage, somehow,” he smiled faintly.

“Are you sure? You look very pale, if you want we can go to the nurse’s offi…”

“Okumura-san!” shouted the teacher, scolding her with just the look in his eyes. “You’re welcome to invite your Prince Charming to a date when the class is over, now’s definitely not the time to do it!”

“I am sorry, I am simply worried about him, since…”

“Whatever that is, it can wait ‘til we are done,” the man sighed, turned in the direction of the blackboard and returned to explaining trigonometric functions.

Akechi couldn’t focus, his vision was blurry and blunt, and he barely sat straight. His hand was shaky as he was writing down the stuff from the blackboard. His head hurt, he was nauseous… 

Yes, he was definitely sick.

The fact, that he had an interview scheduled for today didn’t help, too.

He was constantly repeating one sentence in his thoughts: “Just withstand, until the class ends…”

Well, that didn’t work out too well, since as he repeated that for the fifth time, his head hit the desk with a loud “thump”.

He just fainted.

“Akechi-kun!” Haru was the first one to react. She immediately stood up and ran up to the collapsed Akechi.

“Don’t joke around, eh?” murmured the teacher and approached them. “Akechi! Wake up! I thought that you were a decent student, you know?”

“Can’t you see that he’s unconscious?!” the fluffy haired girl was very unpleased. “Akechi-kun? Can you hear me?!” she shook his shoulders in an attempt to wake him up.

“H-huh…?” the boy murmured faintly. “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel too…” he didn’t finish, since he began choking uncontrollably, like he was about to vomit.

“Oh my god. Better take him to the toilet, or something, Okumura.” sighed the teacher. 

“Finally!” she groaned quietly, in a really not “Haru-ish” manner. “Come on, Akechi-kun.”

***

The nurse told him, that it must have been something, that he’s eaten.

Yes, the breakfast onigiri could have been the cause of his illness. Its’ taste resembled something that has expired ages ago, yet Goro was too fucking tired to even tell.

He was sent home, after finding out that taking a nap at the nurse’s did not help at all.

Currently he was regretting all his life decisions, and lying in bed. His scheduled interview on TV was cancelled, to the disappointment of his horde of fans on Twitter - apparently the hashtag “#WhereTheHellIsAkechi” was blowing up, and he missed a super important English test.

Well, at least he could get the sleep that he well deserved. If not the call from no other than Kurusu. He picked up, 

“Can you open the door for me?” said Akira, without even saying “hello”.

“Excuse me?” replied Akechi, half consciously.

“I simply want to visit.” he laughed. “You know, to make sure if you’re even alive. And I’ve got the notes from the classes that you haven’t been to. Haru gave them to me.”

Well, he had no reason not to let him in, so he just sighed, put on a sleeping robe and opened the door.

Kurusu stood there, smiling like always, holding a plastic bag filled with medicine and soft drinks, and a stack of neat-looking notebooks, most probably belonging to Haru.

“I’m not sure if you know that, but I have got my own medicine,” said Goro, staring at the bag.

“Guess I like spending money on you,” he laughed, while entering the flat.

“D-don’t talk like that…!” Akechi protested.

“Chill, I was just cracking a little joke.” he laughed again, and than said “Do you mind if I use the kitchen?”

“Of course not, but what for?”

“I’ll make some tea for the both of us.” he replied, as he was filling the kettle with water. “And when I make the tea, you lie in bed and rest!”

“Kurusu, it’s just food poisoning, not leukaemia,”

“I don’t care. You deserve some rest, Goro.” he said, not looking at him, taking some cups out of the cupboard. “You tend to overwork yourself, so maybe a day or two being sick at home will do good for you?”

Akechi sighed, not even making a remark about the fact that he called him by name again. 

“... you’re not going to scream at me for calling you Goro again?” he giggled. 

“Honestly, I’m too tired to care about that.” Akechi sighed and crouched to reach one of the cupboards. “Want some candy? I’ve got some excess in here, so…”

“Why not.” replied Kurusu, as he filled up the cups with hot water. “Come on, let’s sit down in your room.”

The chestnut haired boy pulled out a box of strawberry-flavoured mochi and opened the door for his friend, who was carrying a tray with two cups of tea on it.

“Come to think about it, I’ve never actually seen you in your pyjamas before,” Akira made that observation while sipping on his oolong tea.

“That is… a strange thing to say,” said Goro. To be honest, he was feeling a bit awkward when the black-haired boy was seeing him in that state - while he was wearing a washed out t-shirt, funny-looking, blue pyjama trousers and of all things, those ridiculous, baby pink slippers that he got as a gift from Haru for his birthday.

“Yeah, I know that.” he laughed, as he began to chew on the mochi. “I hope that’s not my one-time opportunity.” he winked.

It took some time, but after thinking about it for a minute the joke finally got to Akechi. This time, it actually made him blush from embarrassment. 

“My god.” he sighed, while desperately hiding the fact that he was blushing. “Think before you talk, huh?”

“Sorry-” Kurusu, on the other hand, thought that his joke was hilarious. “But by the way - your legs are fine and stuff, but you should shave them or something, at least for the show, you know. The hairs aren’t that visible, but...” 

“...Can we just talk about something, that normal high schoolers talk about?” he gasped, honestly, just tired with all of this.

“But it’d be boring, don’t you think?” Akira smiled his usual subtle smile. It was quite obvious, that he was trying to hit on Akechi.

“I d-don’t really know, to be honest…” if the feeling “unsure” had an assigned expression, it would be Akechi’s face at that specific moment. “I mean… our conversations have been orbiting about rather unusual things recently, don’t you think? And… I wouldn’t like that to affect our friendship. You are a genuinely good person, but… I don’t think, that that’s it yet.”

“Yeah. I guess.” the younger boy seemed… disappointed, for some reason. As if the word “friendship” hurt him a little bit. They were on two drastically different sides of the spectrum - Akira wanted to make a step already, yet Akechi, on the other hand wasn’t even sure what was he feeling. His reason was telling him, that keeping things the same as earlier would be for the best, and he trusted it. “Anyway - I think I should be going now.”

“Huh? That fast?” Goro seemed surprised with the sudden confession.

“Yeah, Mishima asked me to meet up with him earlier, he said it is urgent, so…”

It didn’t seem like a lie, because it really wasn’t a one - it just so happened, that the meeting with Mishima was supposed to take place an hour after. Akira just wanted to get out of that awkward situation. 

“Okay… See you next time, then.”

***

Akechi was again lying in bed and staring at the ceiling.

Unable to sleep, again.

Now it was because of that thought, that was constantly nagging and tormenting him.

What if he shared the same feelings towards Akira?


	4. Practice Makes Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akechi realises that being pretty takes practice. A lot of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow. it's been a while since I updated.  
> sorry for the tremendously long wait, but recently I've been kind of lazy (your girl is being honest with you, so I won't make up any silly excuses lol).  
> welp, I hope you at least enjoy this chapter, and by the way, thanks a bunch to my dear friend Julia, who motivated me to even make any progress on this trainwreck of a fanfic.  
> Peace!

**01000100110** : FOOLISH HUMAN

**01000100110** : YOU THOUGHT, THAT GETTING RID OF ME, QUEEN ALIBABA THE GREAT WOULD BE SO EASY?

**01000100110** : how dare you block me like that? ٩(ఠ益ఠ)۶ and why didn’t you unblock me????

Akechi sighed. Futaba was at it again. 

**karasu** : I apologise, I was tired and wanted to sleep already. And you know that you didn’t need to hack into my inbox to contact me. You have my mobile phone number.

**01000100110** : yeah, but that would be BORING! isn’t hacking, like, waaaaaaay more exciting? (*≧ω≦*)

**karasu** : If you say so.

**01000100110** : anyways… I heard from Akira that you were sick today. is that legit?

**karasu** : Yes, that is correct. I’m absent from school tomorrow as well.

**01000100110** : POOR PANKECHI! ( ಥ ʖ̯ ಥ)

**karasu** : “Pankechi”? 

**01000100110** : just a stupid nickname. Just unblock me.

**karasu** : So you are able to hack into my inbox, but you cannot unblock yourself?

**01000100110** : JUST DO IT!

**01000100110** sent ShiaLaBeouf.gif

**karasu** : sigh.

_You have unblocked the user **Alibaba**_

**Alibaba** : henlo :3

**Alibaba** : I have a question 

**karasu** : Yes?

**Alibaba** : you and Akira

**Alibaba** : he texted me recently and

**Alibaba** : i think that he’s got a lil crush on you

Akechi sighed again and felt his fingers hovering over the little phone keyboard. He didn’t quite know how to reply to a confession such as that. 

**Alibaba** : Akechiiiiiii???

**Alibaba** : r u ded???

**Alibaba** : i can tell that ur reading that u know

**karasu** : I apologise, I spaced out for a minute. I… actually do not know what to say.

**Alibaba** : but I sure as hell do

**karasu** : ?

**Alibaba** : ♡I S H I P I T♡

**karasu** : Futaba, just stop, please.

**Alibaba** : ugh, K. 

Akechi didn’t respond. He blocked his phone screen. He found himself confused again. 

He could not deny it. He felt something towards Kurusu. All he could do was a loud sigh and hiding his face in his hands, but he felt an urge to tuck his face into a pillow and scream as loudly as possible. 

Akechi had his little suspicions about Akira’s behaviour before, but now that Futaba’s said that…

Sure, she was quite of a group’s matchmaker - she would constantly blabbering around how, for example, Ryuji and Ann looked cute together, but now was… different. Maybe because Akechi felt something similar towar…

He scolded himself for thinking about that like this.

The thought, that he had a crush on Akira was ridiculous to him. All those months, he didn’t see him as anything more than a good friend, and now…

He sighed quietly and continued to stare at the ceiling.

He just couldn’t ever get enough sleep, could he?

***

„Oh. You came,” said Akechi, with a faint smile on his face when Akira finally showed up. The chestnut haired boy was waiting next to the metro station entrance, while holding his newly-bought dress on a coat hanger, wrapped in a black piece of cloth, as if to cover the fact that it was a women’s dress and not a piece of clothing that would be normal for an eighteen-year-old boy to carry around. It would be a shame if someone saw him like that.

“Yeah, sorry I’m late again,” laughed Akira. “I can never be on time, can I? You’re okay now?” he asked right after.

“Yes, I feel great,” answered Goro. “Way better than I did before.” 

“At least you didn’t need to go to school, and had an opportunity to relax a bit.”

“I’m not really certain if that’s a good thing.” laughed Goro. “But I got to sleep a little more than usual, so I suppose it was alright.”

“See? So it wasn’t that bad.” Akira smiled sheepishly while stepping onto the station platform. “By the way. You seem really cheerful today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Excited to try everything on?” 

“I would not say that it’s because of that.” sighed Goro. “Now that you’ve reminded me…”

“C’mon, it can’t be that bad.” said Kurusu while entering the crowded train with Akechi alongside him. “I’ll be trying on some stuff, too.” the black haired boy winked archly.

“Oh, really? I was curious about how you’d look in drag the last time.”

“Yeah, my look is an… interesting one.” giggled Akira. “A little provocative, if you ask me.”

Provocative? thought Akechi, while almost unconsciously gazing at his body. He scolded himself for wondering, how his legs would look in a tight skirt.

“I’m sure you will pull this off wonderfully,” Akira smiled at him.

“Right,” sighed the chestnut-haired boy, but at the same time, he could appreciate the compliment. It was a weird thing to be complimented on your ladylike appearance while identifying as and being male, but Kurusu’s words made it sound somewhat pleasant to hear.

They stood inside the train for five more minutes before they arrived at Shinjuku. 

“Let’s grab something to eat before we go to Lala’s, okay?” asked Akira while looking at the clock on his phone. “We have forty minutes left.”

“Why not.” answered the long-haired boy indifferently. “ We can check that beef bowl place at the station. I’m hungry.”

“It’s never a good thing to think about food and not about the important stuff. By the way - I would never suspect you of liking beef bowl.” laughed Kurusu. “Ryuji loves that stuff. I thought that you were more of a sweet tooth.”

“I am, but I do not confine my tastes to just desserts.” giggled Akechi. “Actually, I used to love takoyaki and katsudon when I was a child.”

“And now you don’t?” 

“No, I did not mean that!” he laughed. Whilst being in Akira’s company, he almost forgot that, of all things, he was going to wear a full face of makeup and a frilly, cutesy dress in a while. “By the way - now that you mentioned Ryuji - I wonder, what is he up to now. The festival will be held in a week after all, correct? Has he began working on his… performance? And I wonder about the same thing in Kitagawa’s case.”

“I haven’t really heard from him lately, to be frank.” he responded as they took their seats in the restaurant. “I think he’s excited to win that prize thingy, but you know him - he hardly ever does anything on time. And about Yusuke… God knows what is he even doing. He might be well ahead of us or doing something else, not even caring. You know him - he tends to be unpredictable sometimes.” Akira laughed.

“You may be right.” sighed Goro, as he was browsing through the menu. “Oh! They have katsudon here!”

“The check’s on me,” said Kurusu with a radiant smile, while observing the chestnut-haired boy’s excited expression.

“Oh, no, it’s not,” hissed Akechi, while looking at Kurusu with a nearly murderous glare.

“Chill, I was joking!” the black-haired boy chuckled, and the brunet reacted by rolling his eyes. He didn’t want to have Akira pay for him again. He didn’t want to be responsible for his possible bankruptcy. “You don’t like the gentleman type?”

“Akira, for god’s sake…” he sighed, not really realising, that he called him by his first name, and not the usual “Kurusu-kun”.

***

„Finally! I was dying to see you!” Lala greeted them loudly and then looked at Akechi holding the coat hanger. “So what have you chosen, huh?”

“Well, it’s a little different than the initial look we thought of, but…” said Goro, while removing the cover from the dress. He handed the dress to the woman and then unzipped his bag to uncover the shoes, headdress, and gloves.

“It’s gorgeous! And now you’ll look similar to Kira-chan.” she laughed, so did Akira. “You ready to shine?” she looked him in the eyes.

“I suppose so?” the boy giggled anxiously.

“More enthusiasm, huh?” she laughed again and then turned in the direction of the other boy. “I guess that you’ll be going to prep too? Ready?”

“Ready as always.” he responded and smiled a radiant smile. “I’ll go make myself up, too.” 

“Huh?” Akechi was surprised. “I thought you’ll help me out, too.”

“I will, but a bit later. You know - walking in heels, sitting a bit more elegantly. Stuff like that.” he winked at him. “I’m an expert.”

“Yeah, right.” sighed Lala. “You inappropriate narcissist.”

“Okay, sorry,”

“Anyways… I think it’s time to put some makeup on you, isn’t it?”

“I… guess?”

“More enthusiasm!” she repeated herself and disappeared in the back room for a few minutes. She returned with a suitcase full of makeup, and yet another bag of unknown content. “You ever wore any makeup?”

“As expected. Man, Akira really brought a total newbie.” sighed the woman. She looked at him again and grabbed him by the chin, which made Akechi even less comfortable than before. “What skin type have you got?”

“Dry, I think…” Goro sighed.

“At least you know that, most of the people who begin don’t even know that.” she said. “Dress up, and I will look for some shades that would suit you.”

“Okay… But… where should I do it?”

“Use the bathroom. Akira’s in the back, so don’t go there,” 

Goro obeyed and did as she said. He changed but decided to ditch the shoes. He’d more likely trip than walk properly. Following similar logic, he also ditched the gloves and headdress.

He was curious about Akira, but ultimately decided that the idea is quite stupid, actually. He scolded himself for thinking about nonsense like that.

He came back and was greeted by the woman’s quiet applause.

“Wow, you will look stunning.” Lala seemed pleased with how the dress looked on him. “So the style change isn’t as bad as I thought it would be after all.”

“T-thanks, I guess…” sighed Akechi. “So what will you be doing to me?”

“That sounded like I’m about to do something bad to you.” laughed the woman. “I’m going to do your makeup and then your hair. Take a seat.” she pointed at a chair put in front of one of the couches.

He listened and did as she said.

“Take this.” she handed him a white, elastic headband.

“What’s this for?”

“How am I even supposed to do anything if your bangs go all the way down to the tip of your nose? Are you even thinking?”

“Right. I apologise. Just to be clear… You aren’t going to cut it, are you?”

“Well, I would like to, but first, I’m no hairdresser, and second, your fans would be disappointed with your hairstyle change.” she laughed. “I’m going to start with foundation… But first I’ll figure out what shade would match your skin tone.

“Isn’t there, like a universal one?”

“Oh my God, I wish that was a thing.” she nearly burst into tears of laughter when Goro said that. “You really are clueless when it comes to makeup.”

“Well, I never had the opportunity to familiarise myself with this matter, so…”

“Don’t they put any powder on your face when you’re on TV?

“Well, they do, but…”

“Whatever. Close your eyes,”

Goro obeyed and immediately felt something that resembled a texture of a brush repeatedly smacking and brushing against his face. 

“Wow, lucky me. I picked the right shade.” murmured Lala. “You have terrible dark circles, so I’ll use some more concealer on them.”

“Are my eyelids supposed to feel that heavy?” asked the boy, as Lala was putting layers and layers of eyeshadow on him.

“Well, they’re gonna feel even heavier, when I’ll be putting false lashes on them.” she chuckled. “Guess that’s just because you’re not used to wearing any makeup.”

“Okay… now just a little bit of bronzer and blush…” Lala murmured as she was adding last touches to the look. “Voila! Open your eyes!”

“... My god, I look absolutely ridiculous.”

“Don’t be so harsh! I’ve worked hard on it!” Lala laughed. 

“No, I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just…”

“No, okay, I get it.” she smiled and nodded. “I get how you feel.”

Akechi took the mirror from the table in his hands and started to examine his face from every possible angle. He never felt so addled by something so seemingly unmeaningful. When looking in the mirror, he saw the familiar likeness of himself, but also someone, that he would never suspect of being Goro Akechi, the teenage Ace Detective. He took off the headband, and still, even after that, he didn’t really feel like himself. Lala really nailed the task of making him look like a legitimate pretty girl. 

He had glittery, pink eyeshadow on his eyes that were also touched with a bit of eyeliner, his lashes were enormously enhanced in size, and his lips were touched with a bit of reddish lip gloss. 

The chestnut haired boy wasn’t really sure what to think of it. He thought that he looked ridiculous and… kind of attractive, actually, all at the same time.

“So, do you like it?” asked the woman, while looking at her creation.

“Well, I am…” Akechi stopped before he even finished his thought, interrupted by the arrival of Akira, or the famed Kira-chan, looking absolutely stunning. If he wasn’t aware of Kurusu’s peculiar hobby, he would not have even expected that onyx haired beauty to even be male.

He was wearing a black, tight-fitting, leather policewoman costume - it consisted of a miniskirt, long, high heeled boots, a ridiculous hat and fishnet tights of all things. His makeup was at least provocative as well. Dark red lipstick, enormous lashes, smoky, purple eyeshadow…  
He also wore a long wig which was the same colour as his natural hair and that hairstyle suited him almost scaringly well.

Goro felt… something. He wasn’t really sure about what it was, but it definitely was… strong.

“I’m ready.” announced Akira, in a strangely feminine voice that almost gave Akechi goosebumps. He looked at the chestnut-haired boy and opened his mouth, that made it look like an “o”. “Oh my! You look pretty!” he gasped while looking at him. “Lala, you did just great.”

“My pleasure.” she chuckled. “Akechi-kun? What about you? Do you like your new look?”

“You know what? I actually kind of like it.” he smiled faintly while looking at Akira’s cheerful face. The fact that Akira appreciated his appearance made him a lot happier, for a reason that, for now, was unknown to him. “I think, that it’ll be a great show.”

Or, was it?

***

“God damn it, Akira, I left for just five minutes and you already broke something!” Lala shouted, when she saw a confused Kurusu with a hair curler in his hand, staring at it like it was a piece of alien technology that he couldn’t apprehend. 

“It’s not my fault, I plugged it in and…” Akira began to explain, confused and annoyed at the same time.

“Okay, okay, I get it, let me turn it on…”

By some miracle, Lala was able to make the device work.

“Why is that every time I try to get something to work, I fuck up?” murmured the black haired boy.

“You know what? Maybe I’ll better take care of his hair, since knowing your luck…”

“Oh, now that’s mean!” protested Kurusu. “I won’t burn his hair or anything… I hope.”

“That didn’t really sound conforming…” Akechi laughed anxiously. The vision of his light brown strands of hair getting burned by the curler seemed a bit terrifying to him.

“Whatever.” the woman sighed and handed him the now heated up device. “But if you mess up Akechi-kun’s hair, then it’s none of my freaking business.”

“I’m not new to this, you know.” he responded confidently. “Don’t worry, I’ll manage.”

Goro almost trembled, when Akira twisted that curler around the first strand of hair.

„So… what hairstyle am I going to wear?” asked Goro.

“Hmmm… You know, I had this vision in mind for a few days… what about, like, two curly ponytails? Or even better, twin drills? You’d look cute. Not that you don’t already, but…”

That flirting attempt made Akechi blush from both embarrassment and indignation. He thanked the gods for the fact, that it wasn’t visible due the layers and layers of makeup he was wearing.

“Thank you… I guess,” he responded, a little bit anxiously.

Time flew by as Akira was preparing his hairstyle and whistling some upbeat melody while doing that. Goro was trying to figure out if that melody was a song he knew, kind of to distract himself from the thought that his hair was in a potential danger zone. He felt that Kurusu was pulling his hair in ponytails (which hurt a little bit, but Akechi didn’t mention that), and sticking bobby pins

Before Akechi figured that out, Akira has already finished. 

“Done! Now, let me get a mirror…”

When he saw his hair, he felt a sudden urge to smile and laugh. And he did that.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t…” he chuckled.

In his opinion, he looked like a budget version of one of these so famous pop idols. He thought that two twirly drills on top of his head looked even more ridiculous, than the makeup he was wearing.

“Well, I bet you’ll laugh even harder, if you listen to my next silly idea…” giggled Akira.

“I… I am afraid to even ask what that “silly idea” of yours may be,” he sighed. 

“Oh, nothing special. I was just wondering how the outfit would look if you wore, like, this little cat ears headband…”

“Cat ears? No, no, no, that is too ridiculous to…”

“But you’d look cute!” laughed Akira, and put his hands on the chestnut-haired boy’s shoulders. “Like, look at you, you totally look like a little kitty, nya~” 

Goro felt his cheeks burning red again, as Kurusu, or Kira-chan put that cutesy voice out. 

“I don’t want to!” he sighed, but before he could add anything more, the black-haired boy pulled out that damned headband seemingly out of nowhere and put it on Goro’s head.

“... I hate you, you know that?”

***

Akechi didn’t think, that pretending to be a girl would be that difficult. Currently he was wiping sweat off his forehead, due to lots of foundation on it and lack of air conditioning in the bar, and barely keeping balance on those tremendous high heels. 

“Don’t you think that it’s time to take a little break?” he asked.

“I mean, it’d be our fourth break today, but…” Akira started 

“Kira, girl, just let your friend rest for a little bit if she feels tired.” said Lala, with a loud sigh. Akechi couldn’t really get used to her using female pronouns while talking about him. “Take a seat, Akechi-chan, I can get you something to drink, too, since it’s so hot… nothing involving alcohol though.” she laughed. The brown-haired boy couldn’t get used to her calling him by “Akechi-chan” either. 

“No, really, I don’t have to…”

A loud ring has interrupted his statement.

“Oh, sorry.” laughed Akira. The ring was coming from his phone. “Oh? Futaba wants to Skype with us…”

“What now…?” sighed Goro.

“AKIRAAAAAAAA, YOU LOOK SO FREAKING FAB!” Futaba’s scream coming from the speaker sounded like something you’d hear when entering the depths of Hell, when the trapped souls would beg for help.

“Thanks, honey!” he giggled, using that weird, high-pitched tone again. “Wanna see Akechi?”

“WHY ARE YOU EVEN ASKING?! OF COURSE!”

“But I don’t want to…!” Goro moaned loudly and covered his face with his hands, but it was too late…

“AHHHHHH! SO CUTE!” the black-haired boy had a blast looking at Futaba being so enthusiastic. 

“God damn it, Akira!” he cried, with his voice almost cracking.

“Don’t be so shy, Akechi-chan!” Lala apparently shared Akira’s opinion and encouraged Goro to show his face. “You aren’t camera shy or anything!”

“No, I’m not, but, excuse me, there is a difference between talking about my job on TV and showing myself to someone when I look… like that!”

“C’mon, Akechi, I won’t leak it anywhere, or anything!” said the red-headed girl. 

He sighed and uncovered his face.

“Awwww! That looks so good on you!” she gasped. “I hope you’ll look as good at the festival as you look now! Oh, that reminds me! Me and the other girls decided on the things you’ll be competing in, and we decided that it’d be best if we, you know, let you know about them.”

“Oh yeah? That’s great, actually.” Akira smiled.

“Ok, so we decided on dancing…”

“Oh my goodness.” sighed Akechi. “I _hate_ dancing.”

“Well, you’ll need to learn to like it.” Futaba chortled loudly. “Anyway… What else do we have on the menu? There’ll be a outfit competition as well, a trivia quiz, and… my personal favourite, the Super-Duper Special Mystery Challenge!”

“And what’s that “Mystery Challenge” about?” asked Kurusu curiously.

“Well, it has got the word “mystery” in it, so I suppose that we won’t find out until the competition…” sighed Akechi.

“That’s right, Mr. Ace Detective!” the girl chirped. “Oh, and you need to have pseudonyms. We are trying to write the script, and we’ll need your pretty girl names…” she smiled mischievously.

“Oh, mine’s Kira-chan. But you probably know that already.” Akira laughed. “Already?” thought Goro, while raising his brow in sign of suspicion.

“And Goro…?”

“We don’t really know that yet…” murmured Lala. “Well, the only name that comes to my mind that starts with a “G” is Ginko, but I don’t think it suits him…”

“What about something foreign? Your name is foreign as well, after all, Lala-chan…” said Akira.

“Ummm… what about “Gabrielle”? Gabi for short?” Goro proposed shyly.

“Welp, that’s not bad of a name for me!” shouted Futaba. “ _Gabi-chan_ … I like it! Gabi-chan it will be. Well, good luck with everything and see ya at school! I gotta go, I’ve got something to finish working on. Byeeeee~!”

She hanged up.

“Gabi-chan…” Kurusu giggled. “It sounds so cute.”

“S-stop it…” sighed Akechi. “What time is it, anyways…? I was supposed to be at home at eight o’clock…”

“Well, guess you’ll be a bit late.” chuckled Akira and showed him the time on his phone. It was seven forty already.

“There’s no way I’m going to be home on time!” he moaned. “Especially if I have to get rid of… All this.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not that big of a deal…”

“Well, it’s not, but I’m worried about what will happen if father comes home ear…” he quickly coughed, as if to correct himself. “... Nevermind. I should hurry.”

“What a shame. It was great fun, to be honest.” laughed Lala. “I’d love to have you around sometime again.”

The chestnut-haired boy smiled shyly. He had to admit, he also enjoyed it a bit as well. Maybe he felt a bit embarrassed, but being around such good company…

After fifteen minutes of undressing and removing makeup, Goro was ready to go. His hair was still a bit curly, so he tucked it in a ponytail, hoping, that no one will notice.

Akira was done, too. When he showed up in his usual glasses and black, baggy clothes, Akechi again realised, how much Kurusu’s usual, everyday self varied from the scandalous and charming Kira-chan. It was almost unreal to him.

“Before you go… I’ve got a little offer.” Akira smiled mischievously. “It’s surely something, that will boost your confidence while crossdressing.”

“Oh, really?” the detective seemed curious, and somewhat enthusiastic. If only he knew, what Akira was about to propose…

“What if we go out, all dressed up, for a little date of sorts?” he chuckled.

Akechi couldn’t help it and gasped loudly.

He could surely say, that that was the weirdest offer he ever got from someone.


End file.
